The present invention relates to a capsule for hygienically preparing a nutritional product containing nutritional ingredients by mixing the ingredients with a liquid; the capsule containing a filter filtering the liquid supplied in the capsule for removing undesired components contained in the liquid. The invention more particularly relates to a capsule for insertion in a device for supplying liquid in the capsule for preparing a nutritional product by mixing with the nutritional ingredients such as an infant formula, growing-up formula or adult nutrition formula. The invention also relates to a method using such capsule.
Nutritional compositions can be, for instance, infant formulas or also nutritional liquids for toddlers, invalids, elderly people, persons having nutritional deficiencies or athletes. These compositions are prepared from ingredients contained in a capsule by addition of a liquid such as water. The liquid may contain undesired contaminants such as micro-organisms or solid particles (e.g., dust, minerals, organic residues, etc.). These undesired contaminants should be removed from the liquid before the liquid is mixed with the ingredients.
Therefore, there is a need for a capsule which enables preparation of nutritional composition for instance an infant formula or other food compositions in a convenient and safe manner.
WO2006/077259 discloses a method for preparing a single serving of a nutritional composition comprising introducing liquid such as water into a cartridge containing a unit dose of the composition in concentrated form. Thereby, the water is treated prior to the introduction into the cartridge in order to remove pathogens from the water. This treatment may be for instance a pre-heating, a filtering or an irradiation of the water with ultra-violet light.
WO 2008/012314 relates to a device which teaches the principle of treating water by means of a filter used for the preparation of nutritional compositions from a capsule inserted in a dispenser.
A capsule with an integrated antimicrobial filter has been described in WO 2009/092629 and No. 09156782.6 filed on 31 Mar. 2009.